This particular quest will force you into the very heart of Legion territory. Thus, you're going to have to have yourself sorted out with the Legion one way or the other. You don't have to necessarily be friends with the Legion to go through with this quest, but it will certainly make your life a lot easier. If not, expect that you'll have to do battle with droves and droves of Legion personnel, including with their entire leadership. But if you're friends with them, this will be a lot easier. For what it's worth, we weren't friendly with the Legion at all, so we definitely had our hands full. Either way, though, the first place you want to head to in order to get this misadventure underway is Cottonwood Cove, which is located at the far southeastern edge of the map, north of Smith Mesa Prospector Camp and Cottonwood Overlook.

Upon your arrival at Cottonwood Cove, you'll run into the small contingent of Legion characters that occupy this fortress. If you're friendly with them, you'll have no worries about getting through here, but if not, get ready for a bit of a fight! There are enemies not only running around outside, but also within the two buildings here, so you'll want to clear out those buildings (if things turn violent) in order to assure that you don't get flanked or otherwise unexpectedly attacked later on. What you want to focus on here, whether things turned ugly or not, is getting to the half-destroyed dock working into the water, where you should be given the option to access the Legion's primary fortress in the Mojave Wasteland, a location simply known as The Fort.

If you found peace at Cottonwood Cove, then you'll no doubt find peace at The Fort too, so long as you keep your weaponry holstered and go about your business in a quiet manner. But if you found violence at Cottonwood Cove, then expect to find a scene ten times worse at The Fort. Sure, you eradicated all of your enemies at Cottonwood Cove rather easily, but you won't have an easy go at the enemies at The Fort. These guys are the cream of the crop of the Legion's forces, and they're gonna come at you hard. We'll assume that you don't have a good relationship with the Legion, at least for the time being, so that we can somewhat prepare you for the ridiculous challenge that lies ahead for you. If all is well with the Legion, though, you can simply skip ahead.

There are essentially two segments of The Fort; one area on the outskirts, a more centralized area of the fort where most of the action will go down. If things aren't going well for you in the periphery, you may want to bulk-up elsewhere, reequip yourself, and then come back. That's because things get far more heated in the center of the camp than on the outskirts. The good news for you is that there's still a way for you to calm things down if you're having problems. The best way to do this, for starters, is to run around the periphery of the camp, only dropping through the initial drawbridge, and drawing out as many enemies here as you can. Unlike so many of the foes you're going to deal with at the camp's center, many of these foes are equipped with firearms, including the ultra-powerful 12.7mm Submachine Gun, which you can claim for your own if you so desire. You may think that foes with firearms are more difficult than foes with melee weapons, but as you'll find out when you do finally get to the camp's central area, you couldn't be any more wrong.

So, when things quiet down on the camp's periphery, go ahead and sleep in one of the many beds you've encountered to rest up. You may even want to bail out of here, fast-traveling to a location like the Gun Runners, so that you can sell garnered (but unwanted) equipment, and repairing damaged gear you're already using. Once you return, it's time to head up the partially-stepped hill at the center of The Fort to enter its epicenter. It's here where things are truly going to go off. Much of the Legion's leadership, along with their advanced guards and canine companions, will put up a hell of a fight. This includes Caesar himself. You may need to peek your head into the tent at the center of the area to draw everyone else out (and also explore the camp at the far end of the central area), but it's important that, if things have gone sour with the Legion, that you draw everyone out here and do them all in. Remember that you can theoretically bail out of The Fort's epicenter, retreat to the outskirts, and either sleep or quick-travel to a safe location to gather your thoughts before trying again. Damage dealt is saved, so you can take things in a metered, incremental fashion. Just keep in mind that some foes may try to follow you if you escape!